Arlington mansion sells for nearly $1.2 million at auction

The 22,000-square-foot west Arlington home seized by federal authorities in an Internet drug case sold for $1,189,000 today, according to the Web site selling the property.

Bids started at $ 617,500. Twenty-eight bids were submitted in the two-day online auction that ended around 3 p.m. The house is valued at $5 million, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District.

Federal authorities auctioned the former property of Arlington pharmacy owner Rakesh Jyoti Saran, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, two counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

Construction of the house, in a gated community near the Texas Department of Public Safety’s driver’s license office on West Arkansas Lane, began in 2003.